Nokia says it'll have LTE devices by 2010, Verizon partnership in the works?

Given Nokia Siemens' commitment to getting the technology rolled out with carrier partners on the double and the fact that Nokia's tie-up with Qualcomm for S60-optimized HSPA and LTE chipsets will bear fruit in 2010 -- not to mention the fact that multiple carriers will be deploying LTE over the next two years -- it only stands to reason that Espoo would have LTE devices in the pipe sooner rather than later. Indeed, the company has now gone on record saying that it'll have "data intensive" LTE gadgets launched next year, though they've failed to go into the nitty gritty details of what kind of devices those might be. That could very well be where this new rumor comes into play, though: TheStreet.com is claiming that there's chatter of a Verizon / Nokia partnership that would see a serious full touchscreen multimedia phone launched to help inaugurate Big Red's LTE airwaves -- and considering that Nokia has ramped up its Verizon-branded product portfolio over the past year and publicly cheered on the carrier for choosing LTE over WiMAX or UMB, it's not all that difficult to believe. If the rumored device comes in a brown pleather wallet, count us in.